


Three Hundred Years

by FishEyenoMiko



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Birthday Presents, Family, Fluff, Gen, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-29 05:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/683431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FishEyenoMiko/pseuds/FishEyenoMiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After finding out Jack was (re-)born exactly 300 years ago, the Guardians throw him a birthday party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Hundred Years

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: [AvatarMN](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AvatarMN).  
> Written for this prompt on [rotg_kink](http://rotg-kink.dreamwidth.org/):  
>  _It's been bothering me that Jack's *exactly* 317 years old, or at least often portrayed as that. I mean, that's an important anniversary and no one acknowledges it. Can I have the other Guardians throw him a huge party when they realize?_

It was an early morning in April, and Jack Frost was sitting in a tree watching the sun rise. He smiled, knowing that soon there would be kids skating on the pond below him. 

He heard a familiar beating sound, and turned to see Tooth flying towards him. He put his legs down, giving her room to alight on the branch next to him.

"Good morning."

"Good morning," Jack replied. He saw the gold box in her hands. "Out in the field again, huh?"

"Yeah," said Tooth, smiling.

Tooth looked at Jack. "You're here a bit late in the year."

Jack shrugged. "This is my home. I... I know I have to leave, it's just..."

"It's okay, Jack, I understand."

Jack nodded. He looked down at the pond again. Something occurred to him.

"It's been three hundred years."

"Oh?"

Jack turned, smiling at Tooth.

"I was... born? here three hundred years ago."

"Exactly?"

Jack nodded. 

"On November 1st."

"Oooh..." said Tooth, smiling. "Any plans?"

Jack shrugged. "Not really. I thought I'd just hang out here. It's a Friday, maybe I'll make it snow; give the kids a three day weekend."

Tooth smiled. "Sounds like fun!"

"That’s why I'm here!" said Jack, grinning.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Creating snow days was harder than some might assume. The trick was to make it sure it snowed enough to close the schools, but not so much that the kids ended up stuck inside all day. Fortunately, Jack had a lot of experience, and had made just the perfect amount of snow for the children of Burgess. 

Jack was currently enjoying the snow day along with his friends; he and Jamie were skating on Jack's pond (Jamie with skates, Jack with his bare feet) while Sophie and Cupcake sat beside the pond and made a snow sculpture (they couldn't agree on whether it should be a unicorn or a bunny).

"Thanks for the snow day," said Jamie as he practiced a Figure 8 in the ice.

"No need to thank me," said Jack with a smile "I love them as much as you guys do!"

Jack had decided not to tell the kids the real reason for the snow day. While he had no issues with how he'd come to be a spirit, he realized the story might trouble "his" kids, so for now, it was best to not deal with the subject at all, at least until the kids were older.

 

As Jack and Jamie were getting off the ice--it was nearing lunch time--a portal appeared on the ground, and out popped Bunnymund.

"Bunny!" Sophie jumped up from the snow sculpture, running over and grabbing Bunny's arm.

"Hey, there, ankle-biter!"

"Hey, Bunny," said Jack, "What's up?"

"It's the off-season," said Bunny, "I just came to visit."

"Ah."

"How're things going? I'd've thought you'd be traveling around, trying to gather more believers..."

As Bunny spoke, he took off one his bracers; Sophie grabbed his now-bare arm and hung from it, swinging and laughing.

Jack smiled at the sight. "I did that, all summer; going to other cold places." He shrugged. "But I wanted to come back here for a few days."

"I see."

Jack looked carefully at Bunny; despite his words and the casual way he was playing with Sophie, there was something about his manner that made Jack suspect something was up.

Fortunately, Jack wasn't the only one who sensed that Bunny's visit might not be as much of a social call as he claimed. Jamie walked up and gave Bunny a suspicious look.

"Hey, Sophie, it's time for lunch." He gently pulled her off Bunny's arm.

"Bunny!" Sophie protested.

Bunny bent own and smiled at the girl. "I'll come back and see you soon, I promise!"

Sophie pouted but allowed her brother to pull her off towards home.

"I need to go, too," said Cupcake.

"Okay," said Jack, giving her a wave as she headed towards home.

 

As soon as the kids were far enough away, Jack turned to Bunny.

"What's wrong? Is it..."

"Nah, there's nothin' wrong, mate, but... well, North can explain it better than I can."

"Okay," said Jack. 

Bunny tapped his foot, creating a tunnel.

"Ready?"

"Yep!"

 

A short trip through the tunnel later, Bunny and Jack arrived outside the door to North's Globe Room.

"Why are we here?" Jack asked Bunny. "Surely it would have been better to take us into the room?"

Bunny shrugged. "Ah, well, I--oh, hey, Phil!"

Jack turned, expecting to see Phil walking up behind them. Instead he saw an empty hall. He turned back around.

"Bunny, what-" but that way was now empty, too, with only a flower rather conspicuously sticking up out of the carpet where Bunny had been.

"What in the name of MiM is going on...?"

With an annoyed sigh, Jack whipped up a gust of wind, throwing the door of the Globe Room wide open.

"Does someone wanna explain-"

"SURPRISE!"

Jack gave a start, holding his staff in a defensive position.

The room was full; the four other Guardians (including Bunny) were joined by Tooth's fairies, and North's yetis and elves. Jack also noticed a large banner hung against the far wall; it was sky blue with white lettering: 

_Happy 300 Jack!_

It was then that Jack realized what was happening. He nearly dropped his staff in shock.

North walked up, putting an arm around Jack's shoulder and leading him towards the other Guardians. They were standing near a table that already had silverware and plates on it. As Jack was led over, a yeti came over carrying a cake. It was small but elaborate; in sky blue like the sign, with snowflakes decorating the sides. Jack was glad to see that that hadn’t tried to stick 300 candles on top (he wouldn’t put it past North to try), but instead used only three candles, a "3" and two "0"s.

"Is for you!" said North, with a smile.

"Yeah, I... uh, yeah..." While he was hardly a shrinking violet, Jack was suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

North took a step forward, lighting the candles.

"And now we sing!"

Tooth looked thrilled with the notion. Bunny looked horrified. Nevertheless, everyone except Sandman began singing "Happy Birthday".

"And now, you blow out candles."

"And don't blow the cake out the window in the process," snarked Bunny.

Jack gave Bunny a quick scowl, then carefully blew out the candles. Jack's chilly breath blew out the flames and left the wicks and the tops of the candles covered in frost.

"Ooops."

"I dunno, I think it's kind of pretty," said Tooth. 

Sandy gave a thumbs-up of agreement.

"Enough talk," said North, "I cut cake now!" 

He drew one of sabers, grinning. He laughed at the shocked look on everyone's faces.

"I kid, I kid, I have cake knife..."

Sheathing the saber, North picked up a knife, cutting a large piece.

"Birthday boy gets first piece!" 

"Thanks, North." 

Jack took the piece, looking to see what flavor it was.

"Ice cream cake! Awesome!"

"Of course," said North, handing Jack a fork.

Floating over to another table, Jack sat down. As he started to take his first bite, he looked up and noticed everyone looking at him.

"What...?" Jack looked at the cake suspiciously. "It's... not secretly licorice flavored or something, is it?"

"It's your birthday, mate, of course you're gonna be the center of attention."

"Oh... okay."

Trying to ignore the curious looks, Jack took his first bite. It was _amazing_. The ice cream was perfectly chilled and the cake was still wonderfully moist despite being cold. The cake was chocolate, the ice cream was vanilla, and their flavors blended together perfectly.

"Oh... woooow..."

North smiled proudly. He then began cutting pieces for the other Guardians. As he did, a yeti brought out another cake. It was less elaborate, but larger. Jack suspected it was for North's workers.

 

Jack looked at Bunny, who was sitting next to him. 

"So, this was a set-up, huh?"

"Blame North, he insisted on it being a surprise. That's why they sent me; he guessed if it was me who showed up, you'd think it was something serious."

"Since Tooth and Sandy like visiting me, while you... not so much."

"Exactly."

Jack smiled over at North, who was now dishing slices from the second cake to his helpers.

"He really can be quite the crafty one can’t he?"

"You've NO idea, mate..." 

Jack smiled.

 

North's helpers cleaned away the plates and put what was left of the cakes away for later.

"So," said North with a big smile. "We have had cake, now we have presents!"

Jack blinked in surprise. "Presents?"

"Well, yeah," said Tooth, "What sort of birthday party would it be without presents?"

"I... yeah, true," said Jack with a sheepish smile. 

North walked over to a corner of the Globe Room, pulling aside a cloth and revealing a small table covered with wrapped presents on it.

"Who would like to go first?"

"We should let Sandy go first," said Bunny, "he's the oldest."

Smiling, the little Guardian got his present off the table. Then he floated up to Jack, handing him his gift. It was wrapped in blue paper with spinning golden swirls.

"Thanks, Sandy!"

Jack began to carefully unwrap the gift.

"You can just tear the paper off if you want," said Bunny.

Sandman nodded in agreement.

"But it's so nice..."

Bunny shrugged. "Suit yourself, mate."

Jack finished unwrapping the present, revealing a small, thick white book. On the cover in, delicate blue print it said: "Jack's Dreams". The spine was big spirals, and there was pen tucked in it. It was the same white as the book, and had Jack's name on it in the same writing as on the book's cover.

"Oh, Sandy, this is great! I... can I write anything in here?"

Sandy nodded, smiling.

"Thanks! This is a really great present!"

Sandy smiled again.

"So, who's next?"

"I'd like to go next," said Bunny.

His gift was wrapped in pastel paper, with a light blue bow.

Jack began opening this present as carefully as he had the last one. But then, smirking at Bunny, he proceeded to rip the rest of the paper off wildly.

Bunny laughed.

"That's better, mate!"

Jack smiled. Then he looked down at his present. It was a picture in an elaborate, pastel-colored frame. The picture was of Jamie and Sophie, both smiling at the camera. 

"Aw, look at them," said Jack with a grin. Then he noticed a few buttons on the side of the frame. "Wait, what are these...?"

Bunny walked over and pressed one of them. The image in the picture changed, and now it was picture of Cupcake. 

"OOooohhh," said Jack. Pressing the same button, he watched the image change to that of Pippa. 

Bunny smiled. "These are all your believers in Burgess. Those are the only ones I know about. You'll have to get pictures of the other on your own, sorry."

"No, that's fine! How many pictures will fit on here?"

"Well, with what you've got, you can take about 60,000," said Bunny. "And I'll get you more memory when you need it. And look..." 

Bunny turned the viewer and pressed button. Jack could now see the floor in the area the pictures had been. Bunny tilted it up, and he could see Tooth and Sandy. 

"It comes with a camera built in."

"Great! Thank you, Bunny, this is a wonderful gift!"

"You're welcome."

"I'm next!" Tooth exclaimed cheerfully. She flew up and handed Jack a long, cylindrical present in iridescent paper.

"What on earth...?"

"Open it!"

"Okay, okay..."

Jack tore open the paper, revealing a tube. Opening that, he slid what was inside out. It was a cloth scroll. Unrolling it and holding it by the dowel at the top, Jack saw that it was a family tree. He gave Tooth a puzzled look.

"I don't..."

"Here, look at the top," she said, pointing to the first two names, the ones that started the tree off.

Jack saw that they were William and Martha Frost. Below them were two names, Jackson Overland and Elizabeth Addams. It was _his_ family tree.

Jack own "branch" of the tree stopped with him, of course. Tooth had listed the date of his birth and the date of his death as a mortal.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, had lived a long life. She'd married a man named Hamish Philips, and three of their seven children had lived long enough to have children of their own. And then those children had children and so on, down through the ages.

"Oh my God... this is... amazing," said Jack. "This must've taken so much work."

"Well, the fairies helped a lot," said Tooth humbly.

"Oh," Tooth continued. "I found out something interesting."

Tooth pointed to some names on the bottom of the tree.

"Jamie and Sophie! They're... they're part of my family. I _have_ a family! I..."

Jack voice broke; his eyes started tearing up, the water forming ice on his lashes.

"Oh!" said Tooth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry..."

She hugged him.

"I-it's okay, I'm just... this is... a lot to deal with..."

"Is all right, Jack," said North, giving him a gentle pat on the back.

"So, I guess is now time for my gift."

"Cool, let's see!" Jack looked around. "I don't see it."

North smiled.

"Come, I must take you to it."

With that, North headed out of the Globe Room. The other Guardians followed along.

 

They walked a ways through North's Workshop. Finally, North brought them to a door. He opened it and stepped back.

"Here is your present."

Jack walked in and looked around the room.

"Uh, maybe I'm missing something, but... where is it?"

"You are standing in it!"

"I'm standing...?" 

Jack looked more closely at the room. It had a desk with a chair and a few drawers, a dresser, and a bed. Directly across from the door was a wall of windows. There were drapes on either side of the wall so Jack could darken the room if he wished.

The furniture was made of sturdy, pale wood, while all the cloth in the room--the seat cover and back of the chair, the drapes, and the bedding--was light blue with snowflakes on it.

"I know is a bit cliché," said North. "You can change it if you want."

"No, it's fine," said Jack. "This... room is for me?"

"I... don't know what to say... I mean, thank you, of course, but..."

"What's wrong, Jack?" asked Bunny.

"North, I..." Jack looked uncomfortable. "This room is great; I mean, oh my God, seriously, it's amazing, but I..." he sighed. "Look, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but... well, my home--such as it is--is in Burgess. In fact, I actually kind of like not really _having_ a home. Just... coming and going, and being... free as the wind." 

Smiling, North put his hands on Jack's shoulders.

"Jack, it is not my wish to tie you down. This room is meant to be refuge, a place to come and clean your head."

It took Jack a moment to realize he meant " _clear_ your head".

"Walls are thick; will be nice and quiet for you. And door locks on inside, you will not be disturbed. Windows open easily, so you can make it be nice and cold. And since we are at North Pole, is cold all year round; you can come whenever you want, and leave when you are ready."

Jack smiled.

"Okay, that sounds good."

Jack noticed a door. 

"Is that...?"

"Is in your room, so is yours," said North. "Go and look."

Jack opened the door to find a small bathroom. It was done up in blue with white detailing and linens.

"Is no hot water hooked up," said North. "I am assuming you prefer cold water?"

"The colder the better!"

North smiled.

"Thank you, North, this is a wonderful gift."

"And hey," said Bunny casually, "You could put your new prezzies in here, if ya wanted..."

"Oh, yeah, that--hey! You all knew about this place, didn't you?"

They all looked away; Sandy mimed whistling innocently.

North laughed. "We plan all this months ago! Other Guardians get you presents knowing you will have place to put them now."

"OOoh, that makes sense."

North nodded.

"So, we have cake and open presents. What else do you want to do for your birthday?"

"Actually," said Jack, "this has already been kind of a long day for me. I'm not used to being the center of attention..."

"Okay," said North, "We leave you to rest. Is more cake when you want it."

"Thanks."

"Do you want us to bring your presents in here?" asked Tooth.

"Oh, yeah, thanks Tooth."

With that, the other four filed out, leaving the young Guardian alone to explore his new room.

 

Jack was walking along the ledge outside the windows, enjoying the arctic air when there was a knock on the door. It actually took a moment for him to realize he needed to answer it. He hadn't locked it--as much as he was glad he could, he didn't feel the need to at the moment--so he just called out:

"Come in!"

Tooth came in, followed by her fairies. She was carrying the picture frame from Bunny and the book from Sandman. A few of her fairies were carrying the scroll she'd given him. 

"Here you go," said Tooth cheerfully. "Would you like me to put the picture on your desk?"

"Yes, please," said Jack, hopping back inside.

Closing the window, Jack walked over to Tooth. She handed him the dream journal Sandman had gotten him, and he put it in the top drawer of his desk.

"I'm not sure where to put the family tree," said Jack.

"Well, do you want to look at it a lot?"

"Yeah, actually, I do," said Jack with a smile.

Tooth smiled back. 

"Well, then you should hang it up in a place you can see it. Oh! I'll be right back!"

Tooth turned to her fairies.

"Put the scroll on the desk," she told them. Then she flew out the door.

As the fairies carefully set the scroll down, Jack sat in the chair.

"Oh, this is comfy..."

Jack leaned back, relaxing. 

 

"Jack? Jack?"

Sitting up, Jack looked around, surprised. He was sitting in his chair, with Tooth looking at him curiously.

"What happened...?"

"You fell asleep," Tooth explained. "You seemed so peaceful; I didn't want to disturb you." 

She indicated the scroll. It was hung from two hooks on the wall between Jack's desk and the far wall.

"How's that?"

"It's great, thanks!"

Tooth smiled. 

"We'll leave you alone now," she said. 

"Thanks, Tooth."

Smiling, Tooth gave Jack a pat on the arm. Then she and her fairies left, Tooth closing the door behind her.

 

Jack looked at the family tree. While it seemed to be little more than names and dates, Jack saw so much more; each of them was a connection, a light out in the world that felt like a part of him. He might not have many believers yet, but he suddenly didn't feel so alone in the world.

Jack finally sat down at his desk. It had been a long, emotional day, and he found he was very glad to have a quiet place to sit and think things over in peace. After a moment, he took his journal out of the drawer. He had three hundred years' worth of thought, dreams, and memories to catch up on.


End file.
